22 JUDGES have declined to volunteer for the voluntary public service levies, according to new figures published by the Revenue Commissioners.

Revenue’s end-of-year headline figures showed that 125 members of the judiciary had signed up to pay the public service pension levy on a voluntary basis, as well as the income levy – but that the remaining 22 judges had declined to do so.

The judges who had signed up paid a total of €1,449,000 in income levies – an average of €11,592 each – and €1,246,787 in pension payments, an average of €9,974.

Judges cannot have their pay deducted while in office, in accordance with Article 35.5 of the Constitution. Similar figures in 2009 showed that just 19 judges had signed up to the voluntary deductions at that time.

The figures also showed that an average of one in every 25 cases where a person or company had a tax liability of over €500,000 had yet to comply with their deadlines, while those with liabilities between €75,000 and €500,000 had a 94% timely compliance race.

Those with liabilities under €75,000 had an 80% compliance rate so far. The figures for ‘timely compliance’ include those who had settled their accounts within a month of the due month.

Elsewhere, the figures show that Revenue received €241.3m as a result of collection enforcements, with two thirds of that total yielded through sheriff enforcements. €434.7m, meanwhile, was recouped through auditing.

€19.02m was accrued through investigations into trusts and offshore structures, with a further €8m from investigations into offshore assets. The total yield for special investigations for 2010, which came in at just under €43m, brings the total cumulative yield from special investigations to €2.65bn.

€9.2m of illegal drugs was seized in 2010, while the total haul of illegally-imported cigarettes breached €75m.

Twelve prosecutions were secured in 2010 for serious tax or customs evasion, with a further 167 cases currently before the courts.